Christian Living

Closer Than a Brother

by Thomas Kirkpatrick
06/28/21
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“For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” (Hebrews 2:11)

The Judeo Christian faith is the oldest institution in the world today and, in truth, began at creation, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) All other religious belief systems find their origins from twisted truths from faith in Yahweh, the one true God of the universe. These false belief systems sprang forth shortly after the Tower of Babel. (Genesis 11) Man was formed by the hand of God and was created holy and pure, and life was breathed into his body by the breath of God. “Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7) As God is a Spirit, His Spirit breathed life into man’s flesh and became a living being. All else in creation came into being by the Word of God, but the man came into being by the Holy Spirit of God, and man was holy.

The man was created to glorify God and to fellowship with Him. It is not a religion, a faith-based belief system that joins man to his Creator but a personal relationship that can only exist in love, truth, and righteousness. The man fell to the temptations of a fallen angel in the Garden of Eden, and by his disobedience, all creation was fractured by sin, disobedience to God’s Word. It has been the purpose of God to redeem man from the bondage of his fallen state and restore him to a right relationship with Him. The wage of sin is death, as God had commanded. “The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17) From that moment on, man would face death, but the spirit is eternal and will move to the next realm in the spiritual world. No spirit tainted by the sins of the flesh will walk the streets of God’s Kingdom.

God is a God of love, and by His grace toward man has sent His Son to pay the sin debt of man, a debt that no man can pay. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) During the short three-year ministry of God’s Son, Jesus, the standard was set for entry into the Kingdom of God by His Son. “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) Man must be restored to the original image of Devine Righteousness that he was created in before entering into the Kingdom of God. It is not possible as man is born into sin, he is broken, and he is not perfect and never will be except through the mercy of God and the power of His grace.

Man does not become righteous to receive God’s forgiveness but becomes righteous through God’s forgiveness. It is God’s work as we read, “He who sanctifies,” He who purifies, restores us to the image that we were created in, “those who are sanctified.” The truth then is that no created man needs to suffer the Lake of Fire created for Satan and his fallen angels.

Humanity is so busy satisfying the desires of the flesh that he neglects the eternal spirit and finds himself at the gates of hell before he realizes the truth of God’s Word. Yet God’s grace is there for all who will receive it through faith in His Word, Jesus Christ. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8)

The flesh of man has been corrupted by sin and will die to return to the dust from whence it came. The spirit of a man will leave the flesh and enter into the spiritual realm, and then it will be too late to call upon the name of Jesus to find salvation. Jesus taught that to enter the Kingdom of God; one must have a spiritual rebirth. “Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” “Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:3, 5-6)

Many a man does not believe in a mythical god, and that is correct. Yet, many a man does believe in mythological gods. God, Yahweh, is not mythical and is very real, and it is by His will that all came into being. No man of any reasoning can look at the creation around us and not know that a Divine Being with a Divine plan and purpose created the heavens and the earth. There is no excuse for a man to reject the reality of God the Creator. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20) There is also no reason for a man to believe that God created the heavens and the earth and then stopped His creative work.

It is what God does; He creates. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:3) “And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” (Revelation 21:5) If God is making all things new, then He can take a wretch like you and I and make a perfect being as we were created to be, a child of God. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” (John 1:12)

Accepting Jesus into our life to live through us on the throne of our hearts allows His Spirit to empower us to become the new self and grow in His likeness. It is to turn away from our vain ego, the failed power of self, and to surrender to the power of the Creator to transform us into the saints we were called to be. “In reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” (Ephesians 4:22-24)

It is not something that we must do but something that we joyfully submit to, allowing the power of the Creator to live through us. He is the power to change our life, the power to change the lives around us, and the power to change the world around us by allowing His light to drive out the darkness of sin around us. We are no longer bound by our weakness of our flesh or deadness of spirit but have the power, the love, and discipline to overcome the world and sit by our Lord and Savior on His Throne. “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

We go through the world here in the wilderness seeking love, friendship, and happiness. We find some along the way, but it is a life of deception for the most part. That fallen angel, the god of this world, loves our pain and works to inflect and destroy our lives. We either become a part of that, or we live in fear of it. Where is there in this world to find love, hope, peace, and joy? There is One who loves us as we are and desires to grow us into Divine Righteousness. Jesus is the One who knows the way, who speaks only truth, and has the words of life. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6). We give so much to live in this world only to lose in all in the next. Why, I ask, do we not seek a closer friend than a brother, the Lord Jesus Christ? “A man of too many friends comes to ruin, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24)

Thomas N Kirkpatrick

First Baptist Church of Durant, August 17, 2017